Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 65489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 262(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 262(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
When I jumped out of the car, the guard grabbed me, holding me back. “Don’t go in there. Help is on the way.”
“No, you don’t understand. Felix has no way to get out. I can’t leave him in there.”
Miles was right behind me. He tossed his jacket onto the roof of the car. “I’ll go.”
“Mr. Montgomery,” the guard protested. “You can’t. It’s too dangerous.”
Miles ignored the man and took off running toward the entrance before either of us could stop him. I fought the guard’s hold on me. “I need to go after him. He doesn’t know where—”
“No. One of you in there’s bad enough.”
Seconds later, Carter ran up to us. “Did Miles just go into the building?”
“Yes, he’s gone after my cat. I wanted to go. I don’t want him in danger.”
“I’ll handle it.” Carter ran toward the building.
“No. Wait.” I started to go after him, but the guard pulled me back once again.
“Carter will get them out of there. You know he used to be a Navy SEAL, right?”
“Yeah, I know that, but he not fireproof.”
The guard laughed. “I wouldn’t tell him that.”
People poured out of the building, but none of them were Miles or Carter. I watched the entrance, pacing back-and-forth. The street was filling up with all of my neighbors. Everyone stared up at the building, trying to figure out how the fire had started.
“Why aren’t they back out here?”
The guard awkwardly patted my back. “Don’t worry, they’ll be all right.”
“You don’t know that.”
Sirens blared as fire trucks approached, blasting their horns to move traffic out of the way. Just as the firefighters pulled up and began assessing the situation, Carter and Miles stumbled out of the building. Relief rushed through me. Miles had Felix cradled in his arms and everyone looked okay. A few of the firefighters reached them at the same time I did. One of them clearly knew Carter.
“Unit 3A is where this started,” Carter told him. “I think I successfully put it out, but I’m certain it was deliberately set.”
The man nodded before he and his men headed into the building.
“You put it out?” I asked as Miles handed Felix to me.
Miles and Carter nodded.
“Are you both all right?” the guard asked. When they said yes, he turned to me. “I’ll find you something to use as a cat carrier.”
I nodded. “What happened?” I asked once he was gone.
“I found your extinguisher under the kitchen sink,” Carter said. “Thank God you had one in a logical place. I was able to put the flames out, but there is serious damage.”
I hugged Felix to me. “All that really matters is that he’s safe. I didn’t want either of you risking your lives.”
Miles wrapped an arm around me. “I wasn’t going to leave your cat trapped in your apartment.”
“I was going to go after him myself.”
Carter snorted. “Miles would never have let you do that.”
Miles pulled me tightly against him. “I promised to keep you safe. I fucked that up already, I’m not going to do it again.”
Tears stung my eyes. I glanced toward my window, which was covered in soot, then I looked back at Miles, taking in his ruined clothes. I reached up and wiped a smudge off his face.
“Ben, who did this?”
“Probably my brother, Jesse. I can’t believe…but, yeah, it had to be him.” My father preferred doling out punishments face-to-face, and he wouldn’t have ordered this stunt since it could get him in trouble if any other tenants were harmed.
Miles brushed the back of his hand over my cheek. “Is he the one who beat you?”
I nodded. I didn’t know why I’d been so hesitant to tell him before.
“I’ll take care of him.”
Carter frowned. “My sources said he’d left town. Your father is very displeased with your brother’s inability to control you.”
I laughed humorlessly. “Yeah, Dad would be. Jesse is probably just hiding. Dad always gets over his anger and brings him back.”
“We’ll find him.” Carter said. “He won’t be bothering you again. I should’ve taken more aggressive action.”
“Wait…do you mean…?”
“Jesse will not bother you again,” Miles said.
I decided not to question them further.
The guard returned with a box and some tape. We made holes in the box, placed Felix inside and taped it shut. Felix made his disgust loudly known, but at least he was safe. I wasn’t about to risk him running away after the effort Miles had made to save him.
Once we’d all talked to the police and were free to go, we put Felix’s makeshift carrier in Miles’s car. I leaned against the door and sighed. “I don’t know where I’m going to go. I have no idea how long it will be before I can get back into my apartment and find out what’s salvageable.”
“You’re coming home with me,” Miles said.
I started to protest, but he pressed a finger against my lips.